The Massachusetts softball team walked off Stonehill 3-2 in eight innings after a late comeback effort by the Skyhawks (14-34, 5-13 Northeast Conference) forced the game into extras.
Entering the bottom of the eighth, the Minutewomen (12-32, 4-15 Atlantic 10) had been held scoreless for six straight innings and were only able to scatter two hits across those frames. Freshman Lily Woodworth stepped up to the plate to lead off the inning, hitting .234 for the season with no home runs and one hit already in the game. Woodworth turned on Harper Sullivan’s first pitch, a fastball high and tight, and launched it over the right field fence to win the game for UMass.
“[Woodworth is] capable of being able to hit [home runs],” head coach Danielle Henderson said. “She gets a lot of line drives for us. She’s feisty up there, and she was just going up there to get a hit and she just turned on it.”
The Minutewomen jumped all over Stonehill starter Amelia Styskal-Ward in the second inning to grab an early 2-0 lead. With two outs, and after a ten-pitch at-bat, Taylor Richardson drove a slicing line drive to right that just glanced off May Dawes’ glove and bounced away. By the time the Skyhawks got the ball back to the infield, Richardson was at third with a stand-up triple.
One pitch later, Brooke Musch smacked a hard grounder through the right side to drive in Richardson and give UMass a 1-0 lead. Sophia Thormeyer wasted little time bringing in Musch, guiding a bloop single into left to double the Minutewomen’s advantage.
UMass held that lead for much of the game, until the Stonehill bats woke up in the sixth. Piper Hofmann led off the inning with a single, giving the Skyhawks just their fourth baserunner of the game up to that point. Grace Conaway squared up to bunt in hopes of moving Hofmann over to second, but a throwing error by Minutewomen pitcher Julianne Bolton allowed Hofmann to reach third and Conaway to scamper to second. Stonehill took advantage of the blunder, driving in Hofmann with a sacrifice fly by Sullivan and Conaway with a Jessica Brill double hit off the center field wall.
Despite the costly error, Bolton put UMass in a position to win with eight innings, five strikeouts and two unearned runs. Bolton sent the Skyhawks down in order three times across the eight innings, including in the final frame. The senior enters the final weekend of the regular season and of her Minutewomen career with six wins, a 3.46 ERA and 85 strikeouts on the season.
“She’s one of the seniors that you want to go out on a good note. Her ball moves a ton, and I’ve seen her get better and better every year … she’s been a great leader for our team. She’s a lot of fun,” Henderson said.
UMass is currently No. 9 in the A-10 standings. The top six teams qualify for the A-10 tournament, and with just three games remaining in the season, the Minutewomen mathematically cannot reach the postseason.
“It’s our last week being on our field, so you want to honor the seniors and go out on a good note for them and then have this kick into next season,” Henderson said. “You want the young people to learn how to compete and how to play hard. We want our seniors to go out like they deserve because they’ve played hard for us.”
The Minutewomen look to carry their momentum into a three-game series against Saint Louis, starting on Friday, May 12. First pitch is set for 12 p.m. at Sortino Field.
James Rust can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @James__Rust.
